{Dreams}

What are the dreams of our loved ones? That is the topic of the next Joy Of Love photography assignment. I believe it took me all of a nanosecond to come up with an answer. In fact, I could fill a book with photos of our dreams as we are a family of goal-setters and dreamers. For this project I chose the dream that our entire family shares.

It has been almost three years since Cory and I took our princesses - then 4 and 2 years old - to Disney World. And to this day, we all agree that that was the best week of our lives. Sasha and Clara were in little girl heaven, completely caught up in the magic of Disney. And Cory and I were in our own heaven watching the joy on our girls' faces. It was a perfect week. So one of our family's dreams is to go back to Disney World. We talk about it all the time. If it weren't so darn expensive, we'd take a trip there every year. Unfortunately, we have to be financially responsible and that means waiting until we can comfortably afford to go the House of the Mouse.

When we planned our trip three years ago, the girls and I made a big paper chain to count down the days until we hopped on the plane to head south. We hung the chain - which was quite long since we counted down about 75 days - from a hook on the attic door which happens to be in their bedroom. Every day the girls took turns tearing off a link. It was so exciting to see the chain get smaller, especially as we got closer to the big day! When that day came I couldn't bear to tear off that last link. We had so much fun using the chain and it represented such wonderful anticipation that I didn't want to take it down. It remains there today!

Hopefully we will be able to return to land of magic soon. I'd love to go before Dixon turns three since kids stay, play and eat free if they are under three. He turns two in April, so the countdown will soon be on! This time I think Cory and I will surprise the kids with the trip. Kind of like the commercials on tv that show the parents telling their kids that they are going to go to Disney World that day and the kids jump up and down screaming with excitement. I always cry at those commercials! We can't wait to make our dream come true and feel the magic of Disney within us again!

*This photo is rather, um, yucky. I had to use my flash because there was no light in the room, and that resulted in horrible shadows and glare. I'm certainly not posting the photo because it's a great shot - it's simply to document the dream!